Card-file.



No. 633,364, Patented Sept. 19, I899.

c. m'. & w. J. PECK. CARD FILE.

(Application filed. Dec. 12, 1898.) No Modal) g g g WITNESS UN TED STATES CHARLES M.

PEOK AND \VILLIAM J. PEOK, OF WYOMING, OI-I'lO, ASSIGNORS TO THE GLOBE COMPANY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

CARD-FILE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 633,364, dated September 19, 1899.

Application filed December 12, 1898. Serial No. 698,960. (No model.-

To a whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, CHARLES M. PECK and WILLIAM J. PECK, citizens of theUnited States, residing at Wyoming, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card- Files, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming part of this specification.

Our invention relates to files for index-cards for use in libraries, offices, and other places where cards are used for purposes of indexing or reference; and it has for its object the improved construction of such files whereby their case of manipulation, security, and efficiency are increased.

The novelty of our invention will be hereinafter set forth, and specifically pointed out in the claims. 7

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a card-file embodying our invention with the card-holding rods spread apart to prevent the withdrawal of the cards. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional side elevation on the dotted line it a; of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an elevation, looking to the right of Figs. 1 and 2, of the mechanism at the front of the drawer for actuating the filing-rods. Fig. 4: is a detail plan view of a modified form of the mechanism for actuating the filing-rods at the front of the drawer. Fig. 5 is a sectional side elevation on the dotted line y y of Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a broken lower view in elevation of one of the cards, showingthe shape of the slot therein and the position of the rods when spread apart to lock the same and when brought together to release the same.

The same letters of reference are used to indicate identical parts in all the figures.

In its preferred form of construction the file is a drawer, of which a series is usually employed and contained in a suitable case or cabinet. The drawer may have an interior width just suflicient to contain a single row of cards, which stand on edge transversely of the drawer, or it may be wide enough to have two or more card-compartments, side by side and extending from the frontto the rear of the drawer. o have only illustrated a drawer with a single card-compartment; but

it will be readily understood that this may be duplicated or pluralized into a drawer with any number of compartments desired, the

mechanism in each compartment being iden- 'tical with that illustrated and to be described.

In the drawings, A represents the bottom of the drawer; B, its side walls; O, its front wall, and D its rear wall. There is a slot E 1 through the bottom of the drawer at its middle, extending its entire length, for the pas sage of the lugs or lug of the usual or any suitable sliding follower F, (shown by dotted lines, Figs. 1 and 2;) but this forms no part of our present invention and need not be further described.

Onthe interior of the front and rear walls O D, at the middle and near the bottom thereof, is a slide G, Fig. 3, confined in suitable guides H and operated vertically by a thumbpiece 'or button I on the front side of the drawer,whose shank a,Fig.3, extends through the drawer-front and has secured to it a crankarm b, connected at its end by a pivotal link 0 (dotted lines, Fig. 3) to the slide G in such manner that the partial rotation of the button I and its shank a will cause the slide G to move up or down in its guides H. v Beneath the plate G and extending the length of the drawer, parallel with its bottom and in this instance at the middle of the slot E, rod J, suitably journaled to the front and rear walls of the drawer, as seen at d, Fig. 3. This rod J is connected by a crankarm 6 and pivoted link f with the plate G, as seen in Fig. 3, so that the raising and lowering of the plate G at the front of the drawer by means of the turning of the button I will impart an oscillation to the rod J, which in turn, by means of a counterpart crank-arm e and link f, will cause a simultaneous raising and lowering of a plate G on the rear wall of the drawer, which is in all material respects a counterpart of theplate G on the front wall of the drawer, except that it has no operatingbutton I for operating the two plates G simultaneously from the rear end of the drawer.

Two parallel rods K, arranged slightly above the bottom of the drawer at its middle, have their forward and rear ends first divergent, as at g, (dotted lines, Fig. 1,) and then extending outward parallel to the main portion of the rod, as at 72/, (dotted lines, Fig. 1,) l and these extended portions 71/ pass through i inclined slots 17, Fig. 3, in the plates G and i have their extremities confined in horizontal i slotsj, Fig. 3, in the front and rear walls of the drawer. Each of the rods K is preferably a seniicylinder in cross-section, as seen in, Fig. 3, though this formation in cross-section is immaterial. From the confinement of the extremities hof the rods K in the slots 7' of the drawer, front and rear, and their passage 3 through the inclined slots '2? of the verticallyl movable plates G it will be seen that the rods l K will be held from any sagging or vibratory movement and can only have a movement, bodily toward and from each other by the 1 vertical movement of the plates G whenever i the button I is turned and also that neither l of them will have any longitudinal movement whatever. This arrangement and operation of the rods K adapt them in the most desirl able manner for use in a card-file where the l cards L, Fig. 6, have a vertical slot I at their bottom edges at the middle, terminating in a transverse slot m, in such manner that when the rods K are brought together, as seen in Fig. 6, the cards can be slipped down into the drawer and the slots Z will pass over them 1 until they rest at the junction of the slots m and slot Z, whereupon by turning the button I l the rods K will be spread apart uniformly; from end to end without any longitudinal movement and will occupy the slots m to lock 1 the cards in place in the drawer. A reverse movement of the button will of course bring the rods together to the position of the dotted lines of Fig. (5 to permit anyone or m ore of the cards to be withdrawn and replaced at will. 3

It is to be observed that the rods K occupy j a constant horizontal plane and move bodily toward or from each other without any longitudinal motion of either of them, and this movement of the rods, in connection with mechanism such as we have described, independent of the particular construction of such mechanism, constitutes the essential feature of our invention that is to say, we propose to useapairof bodily-movable horizontal rods 1 which can be brought together and spread apart simultaneously by a single external operative mechanism and in a substantially T- shaped slot in the bottom edges of a series of cards without any longitudinal movement of either of said rods to lock or release the cards in the file-drawer.

In Figs. t and 5 we have represented a modifieation wherein the plates G at each end of the drawer are arranged horizontally and are connected by the rod J, and the forward one i l l i l l of these plates next to the front of the drawer O has a hooked extension I extending through the front of the drawer, by means of which both plates G, by pulling or pushing upon i said extension, can be made to slide in or out i horizontally, and thereby cause the rods K t be a rotary movement, as in the case of the button I, ora push-and-pull movement, as in case of the hook I, the card-locking rods are bodily spread apart or brought together without any longitudinal movement of either one of them, and in this simple manner the cards may be locked in or released from the drawer for the purposes usually required of them.

M are the usual inclined pieces at both ends of the drawer for the double purpose of sup- I porting the cards when tilting them for inspection and for covering the operating mechanisms which are concealed in recesses behind them.

Having thus fully described our invention, we claim 1. In a card-file, the combination of afilingbase, a pair of card retaining and releasing rods parallel therewith, reciprocally-moving members at the front and rear of the base, connections between said rods and members whereby the movement of said members bodily spreads apart or draws together said rods, without longitudinal movement, a connection between said reciprocally-moving members, an operating means at the front of the drawer for actuating the reciprocably-moving members, and cards having slots for the reception of said rods in both positions, substantially as described.

2. In a card-file, the combination of a filingbase, a pair of card retaining and releasing rods parallel therewith, vertically-movable plates with inclined slots through which the ends of the card retaining and releasing rods pass, a connection between said plates for giving them uniform motion, an operating-piece at the front of the file for reciprocating said slotted plates and spreading apart or bringing together the card-releasing rods, and cards having slots for the reception of said rods in both positions, substantially as described.

3. In a card-file, the combination of the horizontally-shiftable rods K, the verticallymovable plates G with inclined slots t for the reception of the ends of the rods K, the rod J connecting the plates G for reciprocal movement and the button I connected to one of the plates G for giving vertical movement thereto and causing the spreading apart and drawing together of the rods K, substantially as described.

CHAS. M. PECK. \VM. J. PEOK. 

